Washington (CNN) - As the oil slick from the recent offshore oil rig disaster makes its way to Gulf Coast shores - expected to devastate the precious ecosystem and hurt struggling businesses - the seeds of political fallout for the Obama administration are beginning to sprout.

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said on his program that the oil slick disaster is "Obama's Katrina."

Not so, says Media Matters for America:

"Media conservatives have rushed to absurdly compare the Obama administration's response to a catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to the Bush Administration's botched response after Hurricane Katrina, a hurricane that left more than 1,500 dead," the liberal-leaning group said on its website. "This claim is undermined by a number of facts."

soundoff(91 Responses)

I didn't know Limbaugh had anything to do with politics. I thought he was a comedian.

April 30, 2010 06:14 pm at 6:14 pm |

Billy

Obama's Katrina? Rush, you got Alzheimers.

April 30, 2010 06:15 pm at 6:15 pm |

Ken in NC

I almost forgot this but aren't Republicans the ones that wanted smaller government and less government involvement in our business? Weren't Republicans the ones saying that President Obama should not be sticking his nose in the matters of Free Enterprise? Well now they are all claiming that the government was slow to respond to a spill for which the oil company was responsible. Now they are claiming that due to the lack of inspections and regulations by the "Government" this could become the worst oil spill in history. Fact of the matter is that BP OIL is responsible for the clean-up. The President has more people on the ground there now than Bush ever put on the ground in Katrina. The Gov. of La. that commands and could call out the National Guard is more concerned about who will pay their cost so he does not call them out. He asked the "BIG" Federal Government that they want "LESS" of to do it and pay for it.

What a bunch of hypocrites.

April 30, 2010 06:17 pm at 6:17 pm |

crooked politics

It's raining today, and my hair is on the frizz..I guess that's Obama's Katrina too??...hang it up republicans and teabaggers...you're losing all credibility.

April 30, 2010 06:17 pm at 6:17 pm |

MikeH

First of all the cost of cleanup will be paid by BP.

No one outside of BP employees has died.

No Americans left to die by the Obama government, unlike thousands left to die by the Republicans.

No structure other than a BP drill platform has been destroyed.

BP misled the Coast Guard on the size of the spill, action now being taken to disperse the oil. The extent of damage will be biological in nature, plus commercial loss for fisherman.

Not even close to Katrina.

Of course paid right wing extremist liars like "Liberalism is a Mental Disorder" will post their lies, but traitors like them hate American Democracy anyway.

April 30, 2010 06:19 pm at 6:19 pm |

Ruty

Remember Palin and McCain said, "Drill baby drill".

April 30, 2010 06:19 pm at 6:19 pm |

Sniffit

YAWN. Obama could poop the cure to cancer and they'd be screaming that it stinks.

April 30, 2010 06:24 pm at 6:24 pm |

Dick Nixon

Glad to see Rush finally admit Bush dropped the ball with the hurricane Katrina response.

April 30, 2010 06:25 pm at 6:25 pm |

Tom, Vermillion, Ohio

Any body wanna wager that Gasoline will hit $4.00/gal by summer's end?

This is not "Obamas Katrina" as Lord Limbaugh has bellowed! I wondered how long it would take the right wing whack jobs of the Republican party to blame President Obama for the oil rig explosion and subsequent oil spill. As it turned out....not very long! I didn't hear any of these expert Republicans with their no-it-all attitudes criticize Bush when Katrina devastated the Gulf coast and nothing was done! But, that was allright with them because their prescious Republican president could do no wrong. I'm sure that some of the whackier people out there think that the president personally attached dynamite to the oil rig and blew it up! The party of No is actually the party of Pathetic desperation and the rest of us have just about had all of them that we can stomach!

April 30, 2010 06:38 pm at 6:38 pm |

Pam, Eugene, OR

Who are these idiots listening to Limbaugh and believing him? He is an admitted drug abuser, a loud mouth blowhard and on most days he is a liar.
I admit that I listen to him for the sheer enjoyment of his rhetoric and stories he makes up. His imagination knows no bounds and I find that amusing. But, my God, some people actually take his word as gospel.
I too hope this makes President Obama rethink his position on drilling but this is no Katrina. Please people think for yourselves. Do not just accept Rush's version of the facts that are later thrown up by copy cat Hannity and restated by Beck.

April 30, 2010 06:38 pm at 6:38 pm |

Mickey, NY

Spill baby, spill!!!

April 30, 2010 06:38 pm at 6:38 pm |

If We Can Defeat Him On Health Care It Will Be His Waterloo

Only Rush and his minions would blame Obama.

No rush it was BP (Beyond Pollution) and people like you who are against all government regulation.

April 30, 2010 06:39 pm at 6:39 pm |

jeff jackson, alabama

Everybody on the liberal side forgets the
Mayor of New Orleans saying that New Orleans
dodged the bullet right after Katrina came through.
The levy broke afterward. A levy that had endured
seven presidents. The Governor of La. dropped
the ball on the disaster requesting protocol after
Katrina.
It is just as ridiculous to blame Bush for Katrina
as it is for me to jokingly blame Obama for the oil
spill.
Let's just quit the bickering and tell the government
to clean the spill up. If you wait on the lawyers to
do something you'll be waiting through seven more
Presidents.

April 30, 2010 06:39 pm at 6:39 pm |

Liz the First

' "This claim is undermined by a number of facts." that's the problem. limbaugh and his ilk don't give a rodent's rump about facts. they make up their own 'facts' to fit their hate and prejudice and ignorance. man is having no effect on the climate, humans and dinosauars existed at the same time, evolution isn't real, etc, etc, ad nauseum! this nonsense speaks to the failure of our educational system. nobody should get out of school believing this crap! if intelligence doesn't start being respected again in this country and the people who live in La La Land and keep trying to drag the rest of us into their fantasies aren't dismissed, we're all in as much trouble as the birds in the way of this monstrous spill!

April 30, 2010 06:40 pm at 6:40 pm |

Indiana voter

if Bush was President, this would have been Bush's fault. Since Obama is President, no one says anything and it is considered conspiracy. No wonder America is losing its' super-power status.

April 30, 2010 06:40 pm at 6:40 pm |

Duane Bernard, Tucson, Az

We need to boycott ....... Arizona's new law ...... rush limbaugh, the tea baggers and the Republican Party! These people are a joke , just as the bush administration was! People need to wise up and throw out the whole bunch and ignore them all! They all have a track record of distroying America over the past 70 years. None of them and I repeat none of them has done anything to better the citizens of the US over the years. Try and name one thing? Boycott them all !!!!!!!!

April 30, 2010 06:42 pm at 6:42 pm |

Silence

How come we haven't heard from the "Drill Baby, Drill" GOPers? Aren't they concerned about the environment?

I guess the Gulf Coast doesn't count in their environmental scheme of things.

April 30, 2010 06:46 pm at 6:46 pm |

BillE

The GOP motto has been 'drill,drill,drill. Something goes wrong and all of a sudden they are the keepers of this green earth. The Oil co. screwed up, not Obama. Maybe he'll do a fly-over like Bush did.

April 30, 2010 06:54 pm at 6:54 pm |

Doris V

Rush Limbaugh is absolutely, certifiably crazy and should be put away or deported to Mars. To compare a hurricane and levee ruptures to this man-made disaster is just too ridiculous.

April 30, 2010 06:56 pm at 6:56 pm |

Kathleen

P.S. When Cheney behind closed doors gave the oil companies a pass on securing the oil lines on the ocean floor, it would have cost them a mere $500,000! Whereas, their profits were somewhere at
$30 Billion to $40 Billion a year.

CNN, can you spend ONE HOUR SEGMENT ON THIS, because it is all over the news and cable T.V.???? U.S. people need to know the facts on this gush of unending Oil and that they CANNOT stop it!!!!!
The damages will be "for forever." Fair and Balanced, CNN, tell the story, Please. thank you.

April 30, 2010 07:00 pm at 7:00 pm |

rob

Don't worry all you obama supporters, DNCNN and the other liberal MSM won't let this get out of hand. They will slap down any critics of this administration quickly.

I think its a non story anyway, I'm sure they are watching this closely just like any administration would. if it were a Republican Admin the MSM and DNCNN would be on any Dem bandwagon to say the Repubs were acting slowly and it would be a glaring story for weeks, the dems would screem for hearings etc. etc.

April 30, 2010 07:05 pm at 7:05 pm |

normajean

Darn, just somethiing else for college dropout Limbaugh to blame on the president.. Hasn't that uneducated Rush guy had his 15 minutes yet?

April 30, 2010 07:08 pm at 7:08 pm |

once upon a horse

the dangerous thing about Rush Limbaugh is that he is STUPID like a FOX. He knows full well this oil spill and Katrina have NOTHING in common whatsoever.....one was man made the other an act of God. And didn't the far right say that Bush responded very WELL to Katrina? So how is this Obama's fault? Yet his loyal ditto-heads once again will follow his every word without once using a fact check to back it up.